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Ben Afia

Ben Afia

Hello, I’m a brand and language strategist and speaker, and one of the founders of 26. benafia.com

I’ve found that changing how organisations write and speak changes how they think. Something changes in the culture – and we can use that to make the brand stick.

I first saw it at Boots. Creating a new tone of voice and training people released them from how they thought they ‘should’ write – unleashing creativity.

At Aviva, one personnel director was surprised and excited by the energy tone of voice released in his team. They’ve been eagerly rewriting all of their documents – from offer letters to contracts.

E.ON also adopted the idea wholeheartedly and trained 7,000 people in written and spoken tone of voice. And you can see the change in how people communicate with each other day-to-day, as well as with customers.

And tone of voice has inspired teams across Legal & General to become centres of best practice – bringing customer language into documents and communicating much more clearly. It also helped them get a pat on the back from the FSA.

I still write a lot – everything from annual reports to packaging for sweets. But it’s the effect that writing has on the culture that gets me out of bed every morning. Apart from the kids that is.

26 Members

Hello, I’m a brand and language strategist and speaker, and one of the founders of 26. benafia.com

I’ve found that changing how organisations write and speak changes how they think. Something changes in the culture – and we can use that to make the brand stick.

I first saw it at Boots. Creating a new tone of voice and training people released them from how they thought they ‘should’ write – unleashing creativity.

At Aviva, one personnel director was surprised and excited by the energy tone of voice released in his team. They’ve been eagerly rewriting all of their documents – from offer letters to contracts.

E.ON also adopted the idea wholeheartedly and trained 7,000 people in written and spoken tone of voice. And you can see the change in how people communicate with each other day-to-day, as well as with customers.

And tone of voice has inspired teams across Legal & General to become centres of best practice – bringing customer language into documents and communicating much more clearly. It also helped them get a pat on the back from the FSA.

I still write a lot – everything from annual reports to packaging for sweets. But it’s the effect that writing has on the culture that gets me out of bed every morning. Apart from the kids that is.

Richard Burdett has seen the advertising landscape change over the years. He spent 11 years at Saatchi & Saatchi, was the Head of Marketing at UKTV, Head of 4Creative and is now MD of Horse & Country.

26, and the English department at King’s College London, are incredibly excited to announce a talk about the past, present, and future of advertising. In this talk on the past, present and future, Richard Burdett will explore how we got here and where we’re going next.

The event will take place on Wednesday 21st February 2018 at 7pm, in the Nash Lecture Theatre (K2.31) at King’s College London (Strand Campus).

Admission is free, but you must book a ticket in advance. ... See more

Richard Burdett has seen the advertising landscape change over the years. He spent 11 years at Saatchi & Saatchi, was the Head of Marketing at UKTV, Head of 4Creative and is now MD of Horse & Country.

26, and the English department at King’s College London, are incredibly excited to announce a talk about the past, present, and future of advertising. In this talk on the past, present and future, Richard Burdett will explore how we got here and where we’re going next.

The event will take place on Wednesday 21st February 2018 at 7pm, in the Nash Lecture Theatre (K2.31) at King’s College London (Strand Campus).

Admission is free, but you must book a ticket in advance. ... See more